20 Cents - George VI

The Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya was a joint currency authority established in 1897 to serve British Malaya and the Straits Settlements. By 1941, with Japanese forces advancing through Southeast Asia, notes from this series were being issued into a colony with weeks, not years, of stability left. Singapore fell in February 1942, and enormous quantities of currency — including unissued stocks — were either destroyed by British authorities or captured by Japanese forces.

Surviving circulated examples from this issue often show heavy tropical wear, a known characteristic of Malayan notes from this period due to the humidity and the abrupt end of any organized banking infrastructure after the occupation.